The Process: Many of our clients operate underground storage tanks, and on occasion, these tanks have unforeseen releases. Ellis Environmental successfully uses SME technology to remediate petroleum contamination in soil and groundwater and can also be left in place to re-energize if there is a subsequent release. This is referred to as In-Situ remediation.

We took the logic another step forward, anticipating customer spills, equipment failures or surface spills. We developed the idea that once a leak or spill occurred, a wireless communication device could pick up the sensed release and send notification to the Ellis Environmental office, which would simultaneously activate the SME system and begin remediating the site. There was only one weakness in our strategy…We needed a field-hardy vapor meter to pick up vapors from fuel spills of any kind.

In our searching, we found that none of the field meters on the market were able to pick up diesel fuel vapors. In addition, none were able to meet the extreme temperatures encountered in field conditions. Consequently, none of the sensors were intended for continuous operation. We knew we had to develop our own sensor to meet our needs.

The Result: Ellis Environmental has developed the SME sensor (patent pending) that detects any hydrocarbon with vapor pressure (including diesel fuels), meets the harsh temperature conditions encountered in the field and is robust enough for continuous operation.